MINNEAPOLIS - Unwilling to sit back and wring their hands at a significant uptick in gun violence on the streets of Minneapolis, city leaders have launched a new strategy to address those violent crime issues.
According to Minneapolis police, violent crime has risen more than 5 percent in 2015 over last year, and almost nine percent over two years ago.
"Violent crime hurts," said Mayor Betsy Hodges. "It hurts every community. It hurts every neighborhood."
On Friday morning Hodges and Police Chief Janeé Harteau announced the creation of the city's new Violent Crimes Investigation Team, made up of six of the department's most experienced and successful investigators.
The members of the team will investigate every gun crime and shooting in the city, in an attempt to increase the prosecution and accountability of the most frequent offenders. The Violent Crimes Investigation Team will also collaborate with the six member gang squad, as gun offenders are often involved in gang activity. Chief Harteau made it a point to say that those who are victims of gun violence can also be the ones who shoot others, saying that most shootings involve people who know each other, and have long criminal histories.
"We're finding that it's still a small percentage of people who are committing the bulk of our violent crimes," explained Harteau. "In the first 10 months of this year, 526 individuals have been arrested in incidents where a gun was recovered. 17 of those individuals have been arrested more than once this year with a gun. If you add up the arrests of the 526 individuals, they total 6,271 arrests in the last 15 years. Those 526 have had some sort of involvement in 1,967 violent crimes."
"We know that often the people involved in violent offenses, as suspects or witnesses, have been involved in more than one offense or multiple violent offenses," added Mayor Hodges. "Often when you solve for one violent crime, you solve for several. Focusing our investigative resources on violent crimes will allow us to more effectively track patterns and connect dots between people and events and even prevent the next shooting before it occurs."
The Violent Crimes Investigation Team will work hand in hand with a seasoned prosecutor from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office to improve communication and better share information, particularly when it comes to offenders responsible for multiple violent offenses.
"Better coordination means better results," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. "We know these officers, we've worked with them before but when you have a chance to work with folks on a daily basis, the results get better."
Councilwoman Barb Johnson has been active on the city's public safety committee and represents some of the neighborhoods most impacted by crime. She says gun violence has a significant impact on innocent residents who have nothing to do with it. "These people (gun offenders) cause havoc in neighborhoods and make them feel unsafe," Johnson related.
